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The Moonee Ponds Creek is located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , Victoria , Australia . It is rural in its upper sections near .Towards its mouth it is hemmed in by the Tertiary caps of Essendon and Royal Park before joining the Yarra River . Through the heavily urbanised areas it flows through it is best characterised as a concrete Stormwater Drain . It winds its way through the suburbs of Westmeadows , Tullamarine , Broadmeadows , Gowanbrae , Glenroy , Strathmore Heights , Oak Park , Strathmore , Pascoe Vale , Pascoe Vale South , Essendon , Brunswick West , Moonee Ponds , Ascot Vale , Flemington , Parkville , North Melbourne , Footscray , before joining the Yarra River at Melbourne Docklands . HISTORY Before European settlement, the Moonee Ponds Creek was the home of the Wurundjeri william People of the Kulin nation.Though there are no written records it is probable that the creek takes its name from an indigenous inhabitant Moonee Moonee, who, along with Tullamareena , burnt down and escaped from the first Melbourne gaol in 1838. The Port Phillip area was first settled by Europeans in 1835 . The first land sales in the area of Strathmore on Moonee Ponds Creek were made in 1843 and 1845 . The creek formed a series of marshy ponds on the Floodplain , with extensive salt water marshes near its entry to the Yarra river known as Batman's lagoon. With rapid development of Melbourne due to the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1850s , the swamp quickly became a receptacle for waste waters from Flemington , North Melbourne and Parkville . In 1879 Batman lagoon was drained and filled to make way for the North Melbourne railway yards at its northern end. At its southern area, the filled in marshes were called Dudley Flats, where impoverished people scrounged building material from the land-fill tip to build shelters and huts during the 1930s depression. In the 1890s the lower Moonee Ponds Creek was used as a Canal access for coal for railway locomotives. Between 1940 and the 1980s the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works, now called Melbourne Water, realigned and concreted the creek from Strathmore to Flemington Road, in an attempt to stop periodical flooding. The modifications were part of extensive urban development of the lower floodplain. For much of its length through the northern suburbs it is now characterised as a concrete Stormwater Drain that parallels the Tullamarine Freeway . In 1998 the Moonee Ponds Creek Co-ordination Committee Inc (MPCCC) was founded to oversee planning, restoration, education, and development of guidelines and policies aimed at protecting and enhancing the Creek and its tributaries. The MPCCC members are each of the four councils ( Hume , Moreland , Moonee Valley and Melbourne ) and the Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek. MPCCC also has excellent working relationships with Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, Department of Sustainability, Department of Primary Industries and Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority . In 2004 a reporter for the Age newspaper described it as "arguably the most abused tributary of the Yarra River , and part of the true underside of Melbourne." CONSERVATION In recent years some improvement work has focused on enhancing habitat and stabilising, reshaping and replanting the banks of the creek. In 2005 the water quality, aquatic life and flow were all rated as poor; vegetation was rated as very poor; habitat and stability were rated as good. During 2004 a major stormwater improvement program was embarked upon in the creek's catchment area, and wetlands at Jacana and litter traps have been built. Recent habitat conservation work has resulted in some wildlife returning to the creek, including the Pobblebonk Frog around the Strathmore Secondary College, and the rare Nankeen Night Heron (Rufous Night Heron) in the upper catchment. Along the entire length of the Moonee Ponds Creek, starting at Melbourne Docklands and continuing to Woodlands Homestead within Woodlands Historic Park, a shared pathway the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail provides a recreational path for cyclists and walkers, connecting many reserves, Park s and sporting grounds along the creek. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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